Seam.



F. E. VALOIS.

SEAM.

APPLICATION FILED IuLY 30, I9I3.

Patented June 8, 1915.

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SACHUSETTS.

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, 3.5. E. VALOIS, 0F HAVEBHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB TO HAMEL SHOE FEACEBY COMPANY, OF LYNN, t?

SACH'USET'I'S, A CORPOTIQN 0F MAS- sneer.

Specification of Letters Fateut.

Patented June 8, 31 915.

.spnlicatton nee July 30, ions. semi 28o. verses.

To all whom it ma concern Be it known t at l, Fnmx VALoIs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Haverhill, county of Essex, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful lmprovement in Seams, of which the following is 'a specification, reference being had thereinto the accompanying drawings.

My invention has for its object a newv and improved seam for boots and shoes, harness and the like. In the following specification and in the accompanying drawings l haveshown my novel mam as applied tohoots and shoes and harness.

The particular object of the invention is to provide a method of: interlocking the stitches composing the seam such that the two or more thicknesses of material will be held together firmly even after the material has worn down so much as to cut 05 the ends or loops of the stitches; also to give the seam greater and more uniform strength and flexibility.

Heretofore in sewing the soles of shoes to the welt, the depth of the so-called lock in the stitches, z". e. the point at which the two threads cross or loop through each other, has been the same for each stitch. It has resulted that the ends or loops of the stitches on the bottom of the sole have worn ofi as the sole has worn away and the stitches have then been held only by frictional engagement and have pulled out of the holes in the sole, .thus allowing the sole to separate from the welt. I have accordingly invented a novel seam which remedies this defect. The seam embodying my invention has the locks of the stitches composing the seam located at different depths in the layer of material. In practice, I find it convenient to alternate the stitches, but this is not necessary and I do not limit myself to this arcrangement as it is sufiicient to arran e the locks of succeeding stitches at difierent depths. The result of this arrangement is that the sole and welt will not ull apart until the sole has worn away so ciently to destroy the lock, since, as is well known, a stitch will notordinaril pull out so long as the lock is intact. If esired, the locks of some of the stitches may be located in one layer of material, while other stitches are in other layers and this gives additional flexibility to the seam and strength to the article, because the locks of adjacent stitches not being side by side, the leather between the stitches is not crowded together at this point and thereby rendered weaker and stiiier. The change in the position of the locks also tends to make the work lie fiat and prevents curling.

The seam may be easily produced by a simple change in the thread measuring device or the sewing machine so that the thread measured ed for certain stitches will be longer than that for others.

The invention will be fully understood from the following description taken in connection with the drawings, and the novel features are pointed out and clearly defined in the claims-at the close of this specifica- In the drawings, F igure 1 is a section of a seam embodying my invention, the parts being enlarged and somewhat exaggerated for convenience of illustration. Fig. 2 shows the as shown in Fig. 1 with a portion of the sole worn away. Fig. 3 shows another form of scam. Fig. l shows the seam applied to a shoe having a double sole.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Fig. 1, at A is shown one layer and at B another layer of material to be united by a seam. F or convenience, the layer A may be considered to be the welt of a shoe and the layer B the sole. At 0 is shown one thread and at D another thread, said two threads being interlocked to form theseam. The thread 0 enters on the welt side and the thread D on the sole side of the material.

the lock 2. It will be seen of solo and that the locks of the succeeding stitches alternate, one set of locks being close to the top of the sole and the other set bein close to the bottom of the sole.

I have shown a sim 1e form of stitch, but it will be understood t at I do not limit myself to this stitch since any stitch may be employed in which the locks may be located at difierent depths in the material. This is accomplished by measuring ofi different lengths of thread for the stitches having looks at different depths. The different depths of the locks may alternate or may be interspersed irregularly.

As the shoe wears, the loops 4 of the bottom thread first wear ofi; then, as the sole wears down more, the locks 2 which are near the bottom of the sole wearofi', but the sole and welt are still held together firmly because the stitching cannot pull out as long as the locks 1 whlch are near the welt are intact. This is illustrated in Fig. 2 where the sole is shown worn away so that the locks 2 have been destroyed but the layers of leather are still held toget er.

In Fig. 3, there is illustrated another seam embodying my invention. In this seam certain of the locks, these being numbere 5, are .in'the bottom layer of material near to the lower surface of the upper layer, while others of the locks, these being designated 6, are in-the upper layer of material. This seam is very flexible and is also particularly adapted for use in harness because the leather between the locksof two adjacent stitches is not crowded together as is the case when the locks are all on the same level.

In Fig. 4, I have shown a section of a shoe having a double sole. The welt is designated E, the intermediate la or F; and the "outsole G. The locks 7, 7 o certain of the stitches are located in the outsole G near its of arrangement nearer the contiguous which have regular and which vary in depth in regular predetermined sequence and which have regular and predetermined variations in depth, some of said locks being located in predetermined order of arrangement nearer the outer surface of one of the layers ofmaterialwhich are united by the seam and others of said locks being located in predetermined'order surfacesof two of the layers.

3. In combination with a pluralityzof la ers of material, a seam having locks which vary in depth in regular predetermined sequence and have regular and predetermined variations in depth, the stitches sis of varying depths bein drawn equally taut.

In testimonv whereo I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

FELIX E. VA LOIS. Witnesses:

JonN H. PARKER, Amos H. Monmson. 

